Athens man assaulted, robbed

Wednesday

Jun 14, 2017 at 12:55 PM

Joe Johnson @JoeJohnsonABH

A man reported he was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by a group of men at his westside apartment complex early Wednesday morning and that one of the suspects tried to run him over with a car, Athens-Clarke County police said.

The 42-year-old victim said he had just returned to River’s Edge apartments at about 1 a.m. when a silver Volkswagen four-door sedan pulled up and three black males exited the vehicle. The driver pointed a handgun and demanded the victim "give it up," according to police.

The victim told police he argued with the gunman and took a swing at him, at which time all three suspects began punching and kicking him, police said.

One of the suspects grabbed the victim’s cellphone, and as he was lying on the ground the suspects got back into the car to flee the scene, police said.

The victim said the driver attempted to run him over, but he was able to roll out of the vehicle’s way, according to police.

The victim claimed the events occurred after spending the evening eating and drinking at the Blind Pig Tavern, across West Broad Street from the River’s Edge complex.

There were several aspects of the victim’s account of events that made police think he was not entirely forthcoming, according to Epifanio Rodriguez, spokesman for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.

"We do believe that there is more to the story than what the victim is disclosing, and the possibility of this being drug related is something that is being investigated," Rodriguez said.

Instead of immediately contacting police, the victim encouraged a neighbor to contact his brother in Jackson County. The brother did not arrive in Athens until about a half-hour after the incident, police said.

The brother then drove the victim to St. Mary’s Hospital, where an emergency room nurse called 911 to report the victim had arrived with injuries suffered during an assault and robbery.

When speaking to police at the hospital, the victim was unable to provide good descriptions of the suspects. He described them as tall, and between 20 and 30 years old, police said.

Police said when entering the victim’s apartment to recover a bloody shirt he had worn during the assault, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana.

The victim has a history of arrests on drug charges in Athens and in 1996 was convicted of possession of cocaine, according to Clarke County Superior Court records.

The victim was also convicted in U.S. District Court in 2011 on a charge of possession off a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of probation, according to court records.